Steiner revels in 'historic' double points for Haas

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says the first double points finish for the team was "an historic day" after getting both cars in the top ten in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Since joining the grid at the start of 2016, Haas impressed with a number of eye-catching results last year and started this season with added consistency, challenging for points at every race. In Monaco, the team managed to get both of its cars in the top 10 for the first time, with Romain Grosjean eighth and Kevin Magnussen 10th.

Although Magnussen suffered a mid-race puncture that hurt his chances of finishing even higher, Steiner says the achievement should not be overlooked.

"It's for sure an historic day," Steiner said. "You always want to do better, that's life, but I think on lap 45 if somebody said you can put [Magnussen] back to 10th we would have been happy, because the puncture we didn't really need. Otherwise I think both drivers did a good job. Kevin got his positions at the start – the positions he lost in qualifying he got back at the start – and then we had the puncture.

"We don't really know where it came from yet. It was the left rear, they said [it was at Turn 1] but I have no evidence that there was something. For sure it was unlucky, but then again it's lucky that it was a slow puncture so he could get to the pits without destroying the car.

"You would always like to be eighth and ninth, to be honest, but we got the two cars in the points for the first time and you need to enjoy the moment. And build on it, because it's doable, now we know it's doable so we just have to repeat it and do better."

With the result in Monaco meaning Haas has now scored points in four of the first six races – one fewer than in the whole of 2016 – Steiner believes his team is building consistency as it gains experience.

"I would say yes [consistency is improving] but I don't think it will be steady. We will still have drops because we matured a lot over the last year and a half but it's maturity and certain things you just learn at the time and you cannot buy it. You just have to go through, learn from the mistakes and react.

"This weekend I was very impressed with the team. We went out there, FP1, FP2, FP3, qualifying, we always executed. There was never any big issue. Even in the race – Monte Carlo is quite hectic up on the pit wall normally, but even with two cars fighting for points it was a very controlled environment. I think we will have some more hits in our you-know-what but it's getting better. We're just maturing, it's pretty normal."